Ch-ch-ch-changes

I know how much you love changes so I’m changing it up this round, again. But in a different way. I don’t really even know how to say this so here goes. I am stepping down from running the hunt. Round 29 was my 10th round. The first round I was ‘in charge’ of was the Summer of 2017. It all goes so quickly.

This Scavenger hunt belongs to YOU, the community. Don’t ever forget that. It is not about who is running things. It’s not about who is coming up with the words or posting the posts, or creating deadlines and not extending them. 😉 It’s all about you, all of you. Every. Single. One. Whether you have been around since September 2011 or Round 29 was your first hunt, it’s you who make this what it is. Remember that you have a say in what goes on, how things happen and if you have ideas you’re allowed to share them. This is a community and input from everyone is how this works, it’s how it has grown over the years.

It’s time for me to move on though. I will not disappear completely, you can’t get rid of me that easily. I have offered to judge if a judge is needed and I do plan on participating again. I will be around to help if it’s needed in transitioning to the new leadership.

Remember that I love you guys, the hunt has been amazing for so many reasons. The people though (as much as I joke about PEOPLE) are the real reason.

Oh, you want to know who the new leadership is?

When we went in search of someone we knew it had to be someone who embraces and lives the spirit of the hunt. Someone who has been around for a while knows how this all works and who also loves the community. Well, this could have been a lot of you. It is a lot of you. In the end, though, no one truly wants to take over the responsibilities of running the hunt completely. Apparently, Chrysta & I are the only crazy ones and even then I had plenty of help from Elizabeth and the Dream Team. So, it’s always been a bit of a group effort.

Round 30 will be a group effort. I have no doubt it will go just as smoothly as it has been, and I’m quite sure it will also have its own hiccups as does every round. With that, I’m excited to see where they take things. New people means new and fresh ideas. We love new and fresh ideas here in the hunt! Right? Elizabeth will still be taking care of the behind the scenes things to keep the website up and running, getting the sign-up process for each hunt to work with ease, keeping track of the community finances and a whole bunch of other things that make this all work.

So, please join me in supporting Maayan Windmuller, Sam Breach, and Debbie DeBaeremaeker as they take on the tasks of pushing you all to be more creative, getting you out of your comfort zones, helping you grow as artists, helping you and doing all that it takes to keep the Scavenger Hunt running. Each of them has their own strengths that they will bring to the hunt and as a team, I think they’re going to be amazing.

-Lauri